Deng Xiaoping

1904 – He was born on the 22nd day of August this year in Xixian in Paifang village, Xiexing Township, Guang’an County.

1920 – He graduated from the Chongqing Preparatory School.

1922 – He joined the Chinese Communist Youth League in Europe.

1924 – He joined the Chinese Communist Party and became one of the leading members of the General Branch of the Youth League in Europe.

1926 – He studied at Moscow in the then-USSR.

1927 – He returned to China in early this year.

1929 – He led the Baise Uprising in Guangxi province against the Kuomingtang government.

1933 – His second wife, Jin Weiying, left him after he came under political attack this year.

1938 – His third wife, Zhuo Lin, was the daughter of an industrialist in Yunnan Province. She became a member of the Communist Party this year.

1949 – He led the final assault on KMT forces under the direct command of Chiang Kai-shek in his native Sichuan.

1957 – He became General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and ran the country’s daily affairs with then President Liu Shaoqi.

1970 – He never held office as the head of state or the head of government, but served as the de facto leader of the People’s Republic of China from this year up to the early 1990s.

1974 – He became Zhou’s choice for a successor, and Zhou was able to convince Mao to bring Deng Xiaoping back into politics.

1980 – He gradually consolidated control over the CCP; Hua was replaced by Zhao Ziyang as premier this year.

1989 – He decided to retire from top positions when he stepped down as Chairman of the Central Military Commission.

1992 – He made his famous southern tour of China, visiting Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai and spending the New Years in Shanghai, in reality using his travels as a method of reasserting his economic policy after his retirement from office.

1997 – He died on the 19th day of February this year in Beijing at age 92 from a lung infection and Parkinson’s disease, but his influence continued.